Tag Archives: Cajun Navy

Almost A Year Later

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On September 14,  2018, Hurricane Florence made landfall at Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. It crawled across North Carolina very slowly. A friend described it as being stalked by a turtle. New Bern was particularly hard hit. New Bern is located where the Neuse River and the Trent River come together. East winds pushed water inland up the Neuse and into the Trent River. The water had nowhere to go, and downtown New Bern was under water. Restaurants and businesses were flooded. People lost homes and cars. The Cajun Navy spent the night evacuating people in low-lying areas that had not evacuated. It was a long and scary night. Thank God for the courage of the Cajun Navy.

It’s been almost a year. Some of the businesses have come back. Some haven’t. The Convention Center is still closed and is expected to reopen in October. I read one report that said that they found alligator tracks inside the Convention Center. That would not be surprising. Not all of the downtown hotels are open yet.

But the city is coming back. We will recover. Below is a picture that illustrates that fact:

The bear speaks to New Bern’s strength & recovery from hurricane #florence & features several honors to first responders on the back. #downtown #historic #newbernnc #bearcountry Congrats CresCom!

The ‘bears’ are a part of the landscape in New Bern. There are hundreds of large bears painted to represent various aspects of life there. The above bear took a short trip during the hurricane!

It is good to see New Bern recovering. We are not fully recovered–there are still houses that have not been repaired, roofs that have not been repaired, and other needs, but we are definitely moving in the right direction. The new bear represents that fact!

This Is The Way Communities Are Supposed To Work

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This is the picture of the Cajun Navy getting ready to roll:

CajunNavyWhat is the Cajun navy? It is the Louisiana residents who have gathered together with their fishing and recreation boats to help the flood victims in the state.

The Times-Picayune in New Orleans posted a story about the group on Monday.

The article reports:

They call themselves the Cajun Navy, the Coonass Navy or the Brotherhood Soul Patrol. Whatever you call them, they’re an armada of volunteers who set sail in the early morning hours from the parking lot of The Home Depot store on Coursey Boulevard in Baton Rouge to rescue neighbors, friends and strangers trapped by Louisiana floodwaters.

On this steamy Monday morning (Aug. 16), there were 22-plus boats and scores of volunteers gathering in the parking lot, just off Airline Highway and near the last eastbound Interstate 12 exit before the highway was barricaded. Getting an exact count of boats was difficult, however, as trucks and trailers hauling all manner of vessels kept coming. Then there were the dozens of people arriving without boats and looking to catch a ride to do whatever they can.

Some weren’t sure what to expect. It would be their first trip into Central or the underwater neighborhoods off Old Hammond Highway, Millerville Road or O’Neal Lane. Those were no longer roads but channels.

For others, it wasn’t their first rodeo. They spent the weekend hauling their boats to makeshift launches, venturing into swamped neighborhoods on search-and-rescue missions from the outskirts of Baton Rouge to the heart of neighboring Livingston Parish.

“We’re just out here trying to help,” said Warren Holmes, a resident of neighboring Ascension Parish. With his wife, Shannon, he had spent the weekend pulling people and pets out of water more than seven feet deep. “What are we supposed to do: Let them die?”

The government can’t get there quickly enough with what is needed to do what these volunteers are doing. They are a shining example of what America is about. No one is paying for their gas or the wear and tear on their boats, trucks, or trailers. They are simply going out of their way to help their fellow Louisiana residents who are in need. As the article explains, some of them have lost their homes in these floods, but they are setting aside their problems to help others. Thank you, Cajun Navy, for what you are doing.